Category Archives: Uncategorized

Last week, Grade 4 students visited Slide Ranch as part of our Table to Farm Program.

Table-to-Farm field trips give Hamlin girls a chance to get their hands in the dirt and experience the process of growing food, tying in conversations about food justice, environmental sustainability, and the role of women, immigrants, and young farmers in the changing face of agriculture.

Highlights included:

-Milking a goat named Sweet Pea and tasting the milk

-Gathering leaves and plants, then feeding them to the goats

-Petting sheep

-Picking lettuce, chives, mint, and sorrel from the garden; then eating those plants in rice paper rolls

During the month of January, Grade 8 students followed their scientific passions, created their own experiments, and learned a ton in the process. All of the hard work and investigation concluded Thursday with STEM Night.

The days leading up to STEM Night were an opportunity to go through the science exploration process, consider multiple proposals, then practice failing and trying again through many iterations (in some cases 20+).

All the projects involved energy/force in some way, working in the realms of physics, chemistry, engineering, and robotics.

Science teacher, Ms. Gillian Curran adds:

I provided guiding questions, but they figured everything out themselves. In the month leading up to STEM Night, every student had something they were super engaged with, and was self-driven. As part of the work, each girl was in a research group that figured out the science behind the various projects. During February they will create iBooks about the science topics in their experiments, they will then teach part of the upcoming units.

For many, many years, The Hamlin School has worked to support families experiencing homelessness in San Francisco through a profound partnership with Hamilton Families.

Hamilton Families’ mission is to end family homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Our largest event connected to Hamilton is our annual Harvest. This year over 200 Hamlin students, parents, and faculty members prepared food for families currently experiencing homelessness. On Saturday, January 27, we made vegetable lasagnas, salads, fresh garlic bread, and apple crisps. The following day a group of Hamlin Grade 8 students served the food at Hamilton Families. Altogether, Harvest provided nourishment for 300 people.

The event took place between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. and consisted of two work shifts. Between the shifts, Wanda Holland Greene (Head of School) and Tomiquia Moss (Executive Director of Hamilton Families), addressed the volunteers. Ms. Holland Greene shared inspiring words and led everyone in the song With My Own Two Hands. Ms. Moss stated that we can end family homelessness in San Francisco and stressed how important is for kids at Hamilton to be known, loved, and supported by their community.

Special thanks to Hamlin parents Betsy Ahlstrand and Nichole Sullivan for helping to organize this wonderful event.

On January 20, 2018, Women’s March San Francisco united with multiple cities around the world to reaffirm the commitment to building a positive and just future for all.

The March began with a rally at the Civic Center, designed to engage and empower all people supporting intersectional feminism, women’s rights, human rights, civil rights, disability rights, LGBTQIA rights, workers rights, immigrant rights, reproductive, social and environmental justice (Hoodline).

Hamlin parents, students and alumnae, shared in the spirit of the day.

Like this:

On January 17, Carole Shorenstein Hays and the Curran Theatre ushered in the 2018 season with a powerful performance by a few San Francisco Bay Area schools.

Audiences to the Curran’s press conferences were treated to a rendition of “You Will Be Found” from “Dear Evan Hansen,” performed by students from Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, the Hamlin School and Cathedral School for Boys — a fitting accompaniment to Shorenstein Hays’ announcement of the theater’s new student education program, the Curran Angels, which will underwrite children’s attendance at the theater. Lynne and Marc Benioff are lead sponsors (SFGATE).

Our Hamlin School chorus sang from the seated area to guests who were gathered on stage, creating a dramatic audio and visual experience for those in attendance.

One student shared:

I thought it was really cool that we got perform with high school students from SOTA (Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts). Being with them elevated our performance and was a great experience.

Like this:

Created by our Food Manager, Tali Biale, middle school students from The Hamlin School are participating in Chef’s Table, where 15 girls meet in the afternoon, using fresh ingredients to prepare delicious dishes.

The vision is to have girls create their own food, be part of the process, and build community around collaborative cooking.

A Hamlin student shared:

Being a teen in San Francisco you usually rely on take out food or your parents cooking. Food tastes better because you know exactly what went into it and how it was made. It was a fun learning experience with friends.

Keep an eye out for the next Chef’s Table taking place in February in the East Dining Room.

Like this:

For many, many years, The Hamlin School has worked to support homeless families in San Francisco through a profound partnership with Hamilton Families. A child born into this world has no control over their situation; our partnership strives to address hunger, literacy, and provide awareness of homelessness faced by some of our city’s most vulnerable citizens.

Hamilton Families was established as an emergency overnight homeless shelter in 1985. At that time the shelter was located in the Haight-Ashbury district and was open nightly from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.

These days family homelessness in San Francisco has increased by more than 90% from 2007 to 2014. Over 2,000 children were homeless in 2014 and it took most families nearly nine months to access temporary shelter. Hamilton Families is working to address this crisis by helping families quickly find permanent housing. Progress in communities across the nation over the last few years has affirmed that an end to family homelessness is an achievable goal (Hamilton Families Website).

Hamlin’s connection to Hamilton dates back to the late 1990s when Hamlin’s Lend-A-Hand started partnering with the center. Lend-A-Hand is Hamlin’s dynamic Parents Association service learning program. It is open to all families and offers service opportunities with San Francisco organizations that focus on hunger, homelessness, and literacy.

On November 28, Emily Calandrelli visited Hamlin and spoke with students in grades 1-5.

Emily is an Emmy-nominated science TV host. She’s featured as a correspondent on Bill Nye Saves the World and a producer and the host of FOX’s Xploration Outer Space. Her first science children’s book series – the Ada Lace Adventures – is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold.

Emily’s educational background is in engineering and policy. At West Virginia University she received a bachelors in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. She received her Masters from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics as well as Technology and Policy.

Emily is wildly passionate about space exploration. Through her show, she wants to prove that the space industry is more exciting today than ever before in history. As the host, Emily works to explain science-related topics in an easily digestible, and entertaining way.

On October 24, kindergarteners visited McClelland’s organic farm in Petaluma. The field trip was part of our new Table to Farm food program. Prior to visiting the farm, students were introduced to pumpkins and various types of squash by our food program manager, Tali Biale. In Ms. Biale’s lesson she had girls identify foods that contain pumpkins and squash, then coordinated with Acre Gourmet (our food provider) to have delicious dishes appear in the lunchroom derived from those autumnal favorites. As part of the field experience, students had the opportunity to: select a pumpkin to take home, pet baby cows, and witness the milking process.

After the lesson and field trip, one kindergartener said, I’m very interested in squash now.

Ms. Biale, a Bay Area native, has worked with food in a plethora of ways, including: in a kitchen, on a farm, at farmers’ markets, and in after school programs. She seeks to show students how food connects to all these places and more.

We learn about food in the classroom, then taste it in the lunchroom. Food is a thread that connects all of us; it is a way to talk about culture and identity, as well as nutrition and the environment.

-Tali Biale

As part of her thoughtful work, Ms. Biale asked middle school students to share ways that our food program relates to The Hamlin School creed. Below is one response.

For the second year in a row, Hamlin students Ella, Maggie, Charlotte and Caitlin took the stage in Noe Valley to welcome films and filmmakers from all over the world. This year’s event had movies submitted by girls from Croatia, Germany, India, and Canada (among others). 240 people were in attendance to enjoy short films made by girls 14 years and under.

Indigo, a Grade 8 Hamlin student opened the show with her film Not on the Screen that confronts stereotypes and the lack of ethnic diversity in Hollywood. Another highlight was guest speaker and filmmaker Samantha Grant, who urged the audience to have courage, take risks, show your soul, and put your work out there. San Francisco Supervisor Jeff Sheehy presented the Noe Valley Girls Film Festival team with a certificate of honor signed by the entire Board of Supervisors, acknowledging their contribution to the community.

Establishing such a successful film festival is quite an endeavor. The girls raised over $4,000 from bake sales; cold called real estate businesses to gain sponsors, designed t-shirts, formatted films, and maintained ongoing communication with both filmmakers and judges.